I'm dying. I know it.
I can feel it in the way my breath rattles like dry leaves in my chest. The way blood pools beneath me, no matter how many times I try to stanch the wounds.
His claws tore through me. Shredding my ribs, shoulder, and throat. He didn’t just want to kill me; he wanted to erase me.
The illusion held just long enough for me to crawl into the shadows, but now it flickers like a dying flame.
One moment, I’m him—huge and powerful. The next I’m just... me.
Broken. Human. A man who thought if he loved her enough, it might make her love me back.
I press my hand to the gaping wound in my side and keep moving. The snow is stained a violent red behind me. A map of my failure leading straight to where I crouch.
He’ll find me eventually, but not before I reach her.
Just a little further.
I can see the blue flames from here—the hum of old magic, pulling forward his blood that I still carry.
I’ve guarded her for so long, and she’s there with him. This can’t be how it ends. I didn't come this far— didn’t sacrifice my name, my face, my very soul, just to let him have her again. Not in this life.
She was mine first. I loved her first. And if I can just get to her. If I can just make her see?—
My leg gives out, and I collapse into the snow. The cold should burn, but I’m too far gone to feel it. My vision tunnels, edges going dark, then bright, then dark again. My heartbeat is erratic, skipping and stuttering, fighting to keep going.
The forest is so quiet. I should hear the wind or the shifting of trees, but there is nothing but the steady patter of my own life hitting the frozen ground.Drip, drip, drip.
Get up.Get up!
I drag myself forward, my fingers scraping through the ice. Teeth gritted until they crack. The illusion glitches again—Andrik’s face, then mine, then a blur of green features that belong to neither of us.
I don’t care what I look like when I get to her. She’ll understand when she sees me. She’ll see the man who watched over her when the world turned cold.She has to.
I hear something behind me. A soft rustling that finally breaks the silence. When I glance back, there are green vines pushing through the frost, slithering after me. They’re covered in flowers that have no business blooming in winter.Bloomingwhere onlybaneshould grow. They don’t try to stop me... if anything, it’s like they’re trying to comfort me.
The clearing comes into view. Blue flames burn low in a protective ring. I see them inside, wrapped safely together in the aftermath of their bond. Her body curled into his. His arms are wrapped around her like she’s the only thing in this world thatmatters. He’s different now—a pure black stripe runs down the front of his fur. A mating mark, I bet. Proof of what I will never have. He holds her so gently, like he isn’t afraid she’ll leave if he loosens his grip—that is something I’m not sure I’d ever be able to give her.
Something breaks inside me. A soundless scream that shatters through what’s left of my chest.
No. This isn’t the ending I wrote. This can’t be right. All of the signs pointed to her. The nightmares of her falling. The pull that consumed me every time I saw her. I couldn’t have misread everything. Unless the universe was cruel enough to show me a love I could never attain. To give me hope, only to watch me drown in it.
I gather what’s left of my tattered strength and push myself upright.
One step.
Two.
The godfire hisses as I step next to the threshold, the blue light blinding me.
They both look up. Her eyes widen, terror and confusion warring on her face. His eyes narrow, a predator scenting a carcass.
“Lumi,” my voice cracks, a hollowed-out rasp. “Please. I just need you to listen?—”
He moves in front of her, a wall of white fur and muscle, shielding her from me.
“You’re already dead,” he snarls. “You just don’t know it yet.”
“I don’t care.” I take another step forward, swaying as I go. “I just need—I need to tell her?—”
